Oil separator



Feb. 4, 1941. G. M. WALTON 2,230,278

OIL SEPARATQR Original Filed July 11, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l I INVENTOR F|G.2 I GEORGE M. WALTON Feb; 4, 1941. e. M. WALTON OIL SEPARATOR Originai Filed July 11, 1956 '2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR GEORGE- M WALTON BY ww W Patented Feln 4, 1941 UNITED- STATES PATENT James OIL SEPARATOR George M. Walton, Shaker Heights, Ohio, assignor to Air-Male Corporation, Cleveland, corporation of Delaware Application July 11, 1936, Serial No. 90,177

Renewed May 7,1940 2 Claims. (01. lax- 69) This invention relates to means for separating minute or vaporous oil particles from a gaseous stream in which they are entrained, The invention particularly contemplates a device which I may be connected-to be effective between the crank case and the air inlet manifold of an internal combustion engine whereby the crank case interior may be maintainedflat a slight ivacuum so that its vapors will not escape promiscuously, the

crank case/oil will be conserved yet will be prevented from entering the engine combustion chambers and producing a smokyexhaust. Such general arrangement is well known in the engine art particularly in the stationary, marine, and

railway fields.

Requirements of a separator for the purpose,

are that it handle the necessary volume of air lation'between elements of this unit as will ap- 30 pear.

Another object is to provide various housing arrangements for the separator element, suitable tor various operating conditions, all allowing i'ree accessibility .to the'unit with minimum disturb- 35 ance to other parts of the device.

- The exact nature of this invention together with further objects and advantages thereot'will be apparent-irom'the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, '40 in which Fig. 1 is a typical sectional elevation of a large size; high capacity embodiment of the invention, parts being broken away to show details of construction; Fig; 2 is a typical transverse section through the same, as in the .plane of line 45 2-4, Fig. 1, the plane of Fig, 1 being indicated by the line i--l, Fig. 2; Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail in transverse section as in the plane of Fig. 2,

showing construction of the foraminous unit; Fig..

4 is a typical sectional elevation 01' an embodiso ment of smaller apa ity; i .5 is an elevation of the same, with parts brokenaway to show details of construction; and Fig. 6 is an elevation of still another embodiment, parts being broken.

away to show details oi construction a 7 .With reference now to the drawings, and first to Figs. 1 to 3 thereof, I represents generally the ioramino unit, of cylindrical screen elements la, lb, lo and id, disposed on an upright axis,

thetop of the cylinder thus formed being closed as by a member 2. 3 is a housing for the unit, I preferably, of cast metal, of sufiicient size to permit substantial space about and above the unit,

having a lateral opening suflicient to permit removal of the unit therethrough, with a closure 4 for such opening, removably secured as by bolts 5. The housing has a bottom inlet opening 6 and a top outlet opening 1 with which the unit is" preferably aligndpthe housing being provided adjacent these openings with suitable means for the corresponding piping connections as conventionally indicated by the stud-bolt holes 6a and 1a.

1 For the purpose of removably securing the foraminous unit properly positioned within the housing, a spider bracket 6b is disposed in the inlet opening 6 and a bolt 8 headed as at 8a extends rotatably through the closure 2, centrally through the unit to the shown threaded connection with the spider 621. By this arrangement the lower extremity of the cylinder is caused to bear upon the bottom wall of the housing about a flange 3a wall.

The bottom wall of the housing may be 'pro- Hvided with an outlet l0 located outside the unit i for drainage of the separated oil as through suit- .able connections back to the crank case, served by the separator, the tendency of the separated oil being to collect on the 'outer face of the separator unit at the base of the latter, and the flange 3a preventing outflow of such oil through the inlet opening t. The housing is provided intermediate its ends with a flange H extending peripherally of the 40 unit to prevent upward creepage of oil upon the inner faces of the housing walls. The closure 4 is preferably provided with a correspondingflange part Ha so that the flange is efiectively endless.

The inlet opening 6 of the device having con-'- nection with an engine crank case, the outlet 7 having connection with the air inlet of the engine and a drainage connection being provided from the outlet Ill back to the crank case, it will be apparent that during the operation of the engine flow of crank ca'se vapors will be had generally its cylindrical screen elements, thence upwardly within the housing and therefrom through the separator outlet opening 1; In practice the permissible pressure drop. at the separator is slight and according to my invention this pressure drop may be in the neighborhood of 0.8 of an inch of water. To accomplish this the parts of myments of which'the foraminous unit is composed,

are" of varying density so related that the succession of elements through which the stream flows, is one including a progression of decreasing density. In the example shown herein, two densities are employed, there beingtwo elements of each density, and, these elements being of woven wire screen, the inner pair la, lb, are of finer mesh than the outer pair ic, Id. Under the conditions described, I have successfully employed for the purpose rectangular mesh, 30 to the inch each way for the inner elements, and rectangular mesh, 18 to the inch each way forthe outer elements, the wireof the screen being in the neighborhood of 0.01 of an inch diameter for each, slightly smaller for the finer screen and slightly larger for the coarser. screen. As indicated-in Fig. 3, the elements are arranged-in pairs, one of each pair being smoothly cylindrical and .having. a complementary element crimped with, longitudinallyrunning deformations, the two elements of the pair being disposed immediately adjacent each other in overlying generally parallel relation, with the crimped one radially within .the uncrimped one. In fact all of the elements are disposed in layer relation, 'each bear-.

.of the screening of which the elements are formed. Such arrangement also provides compactness and rigidity for the unit.

I have found a filter unit made of such elements so disposed, to be superior in operation to any others to my knowledge, and believe its manner of functioning to be as follows. The stream of vaporous oil laden air is first intercepted by the finer mesh screen element or elements which divide the main screen into very numerous minute ones. Most of the entrained -oil particles deposit immediately upon the wires forming one or the other of these fine mesh screens, each particle cohering to the surface which it contacts. The mesh is so fine that entrained particles centrally disposed of one of these minute screens, are 'in passing through the screen caused to contact each other so that one large particle of oil may emerge from the first fine screen in place of an original number of fine particles. In such case the enlarged entrained particles will strike, and be retained by, the next screen.

The innermost screen Ia being crimped, al-

though actually of the same fineness of the next screen lb of its pair, is effectively a finer screen,

owing to the oblique disposition of most of its parts with reference to the stream. Similarly, the intermediate crimped screen I0 is effectively coarser than the screen lb and finer than the screen Id, as well as between.

At any rate, the combined surface of the wires of the unit considered as a whole, soon becomes wetted in'operation, the direction of the stream causing flow of this surface liquid in the direction radially outwardly of the unit. As flow is had of this liquid from one" screen element to the next, as from the element lc to the element id, the interstices of the screen element are effectively larger so that the gaseous fiow has less effect upon the liquid upon the surface of the screen so that this liquid may flow downwardly of the screen under the action of gravity.-

Thus, in general the liquid flow is formed from articles which have left the gaseous stream to forming a separator thereform a surfacesln'n which has'movement radially v outwardly of the unit and downwardly to the bottom of the unit. This liquid of course collects at the bottom of the housing where it drains off by way of the outlet l0. Should any liquid fly from the unit as by re-entrainment, it will be in theform of a large heavy particle adjacent the bottom of the unit, and will merely reimpinge itself upon the lower portion of theside wall of the housing up which it cannot creep beyond the flange ll. s

In actual practice the air emerging from the housing is substantially entirely free from oil in any form. i

With reference now to Figs.- 4 and 5, an embodiment of much smaller. capacity is shown,

comprising a housing within which is located a separator unit 2|, vertically disposed and of fiat form but of typical section similar to that already described,so that the hollow of the housing is divided into a pair of laterallyadjacent compartments A and B. On one side of the separator the housing is provided with a bottom opening part 26 by which the housing may be mounted upon the' neck of a pipe indicated through which oil may be supplied to the engine crank case; On the same side the housing has a top opening 3| provided with a removable closure 3la.

- On the opposite side of the separator, the housing has a cover part 24 removable andof sufficient size to permit removal of the separator 21. Also on this side of the separator, the housingis provided at an elevated location with an outlet 21 from which-a tube 21a may-have con-.

nection with the inlet manifold of the engine.

For drainage of the separated oil from the' compartment B back to the engine crank case, .a tube 30 is connected as indicated, to lead from tnebottom of the compartment B through the wall of the compartment A therebelow, and having a return bend 30a within the compartment A.

Running operation will .be as follows. The engine will provide a suction through the pipe 21a maintaining the compartment B at a slight vacuum so that the crank case vapors will be drawn up through, the opening 26 and separator unit 2|. The separated oil will drain down through the tube 30, the part 30a of which com prises a U tube serving to permit oil to be returned in crank case direction through the tube but preventing upward flow therethrough in the direction of the evacuated vapors. The crank case may be filled with oil in the usual manner by removal of the closure 3la.

Fig. 6' illustrates still another application of .the'invention wherein a cylindrical separator into the crank case oil.

ed as by manipulation of the head a of the bolt ll. The separator unit is located at the end of piping 5| leading laterally from the engine crank case as indicated and including an elbow whereby the separator unit is vertically disposed. A- flange '52 is provided within the base part of the unit to form an annular trough and prevent the separated oil from returning to the crank case by way of the piping 5|. The tube ll leads from this annular trough downwardly outside the piping 5|, thence into the piping and into the crank case where it may have connection with a tube leading downwardly This arrangement functions as a breather for the crank ease, permitting air flow in either direction but separating liquid particles from out-flowing air, such particles being returnedto the crank case by way of the tube 40. Filling of the crank case is. had

by removal of the separator unit with the bolt 48.

What I claim is:

1. In a device for removing finely divided entrained oil particles from a gaseous stream, a screen separator unit, and means for causing said stream to pass therethrough, said unit comprising screens of different fineness disposed in vertical relation with the finest' screen first engaging said stream and the successively engaged screens having progressively increasing effective screen openings for -separating particles from.

said screen, there being vertically extending corrugations in at least part 0! said screens, said corrugations contacting contiguous screens from top to bottom to provide a screen path of travel for oil from the innermost screen to the outermost screen of said unit, and said screens and the meshes thereof being so constructed and arranged that a-mist of oil is gatheredinto small globules on said first engaged screen, which globules are progressively coalesced into-larger globules on successively engaged screens where the velocity through the screen openings is decreased sufliciently to permit the oil on the wires of the screen to travel downwardly thereon impelied by gravity.

2. A device as in claim 1 wherein said unit comprises parallel uncrimped screens and a ver- GEORGE M. WALTON. 

